


occulta hominum

by king_or_2_queens



Series: a fabella de violaceus [3]
Category: Assassination Classroom
Genre: Accidental Voyeurism, Bathrooms, Canon Era, Canon-Typical Violence, Coming Out, Consensual Underage Sex, Exhibitionism, Implied Relationships, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Karma's a bitch, M/M, Making Out, Sexual Content, Unrequited Crush, What Have I Done, Wordcount: Over 10.000, Yukatas, see more specific tags in end notes, slightly ooc sugino, smug karma, sort of, sugino pov, upset sugino
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-14
Updated: 2016-07-14
Packaged: 2018-07-23 23:35:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7484370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/king_or_2_queens/pseuds/king_or_2_queens
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I knew I shouldn’t have let Karma into our group, <em>Tomohito thought to himself, peering through the crack between his door and the other stall and berating himself, Karma, hell, even his bladder for getting him stuck in this situation.</em><br/>or, what <em>really</em> happened on the school trip.</p>
            </blockquote>





	occulta hominum

**Author's Note:**

> Wow, okay. I've been trying to end this for like a month. It was basically an excuse to write Karmagisa smut. I like the way it came out. Sugino may be a /bit/ OOC because of how upset he gets, but I really wanted to try playing with his character and his friendship with Nagisa. Hope you like it as much as I do! 
> 
> This could occur in the same universe as neca aut necare (likely), panem et circenses (less likely), or it could be all on its own. Take it as you will.
> 
> Check out end notes for more tags. But if you don't want spoilers for the smexy times, then don't, lol.

**~** **_a story in violet:_** _the secrets of men **~**_

* * *

 

“Karma!” Nagisa called, waving his friend over with his copy of the group sign-up paper. “Wanna be in the same group?”

Nagisa’s eyes shone in that sweet, admiring way that they always did when he looked at Karma, and Tomohito sighed heavily. He didn’t want to crush Nagisa’s excitement, but he also _really_ didn’t want Karma to get them in trouble during the school trip. To his dismay, Karma agreed easily, grinning down at Nagisa.

“Really? Is it really okay, Karma?” Tomohito pressed. “Because it’ll be a problem if you start fights while we’re traveling.”

“It’ll be fine,” Karma drawled; then he waved Tomohito off with a slightly mischievous smile, brandishing a photo at him. “I make sure to prevent the eye-witnesses from talking, so everything is kept... _quiet_.”

Tomohito gasped, horrified (but not surprised, honestly) at the picture of his classmate with his arms around a bruised and bloodied couple holding their IDs up to the camera. “ _Like I thought_ !” he hissed to Nagisa, pleading with his eyes. “Can we please _not_ have him in our group?”

Nagisa’s eyes wandered guiltily away from Tomohito’s imploring gaze, and he knew then that it was over. “W-well,” Nagisa stammered. “But he _is_ my oldest friend.”

Karma leaned in just as Tomohito began to protest. “So who else is in our group?” he asked loudly. “We have Nagisa, Sugino-kun, Kayano-chan…”

Kayano stepped up, holding an anxious-looking Okuda by the shoulders. “I invited Okuda-san to join us too!”

Tomohito smiled at her, trying to make her feel welcome in the group, but she refused to move her eyes from the floor, face red as a tomato and rapidly heading towards plum. Tomohito winced and turned away, looking at Karma, who had begun to speak again.

“So...Our sixth member should be a girl, right?” Karma continued.

Tomohito grinned, ecstatic. “Don’t underestimate me! I invited a _certain someone_ months ago _just_ for this occasion.”

Everybody, even Okuda, looked up, interested by his admission, and Tomohito stepped aside, presenting Kanzaki to the group. “How about the class’s beauty queen, Kanzaki-san?” he crowed, relishing in the way their mouths all dropped open in shock. Kanzaki blushed slightly and smiled modestly, and Tomohito barely held in a sigh at how _gorgeous_ she was.

Kanzaki greeted all of Tomohito’s group members with a polite little bow and a “please take care of me” that was almost enough to cause Tomohito to prostrate himself at her feet.

Kanzaki sat down next to _him_ as they began planning out their route and assassination plans, and Tomohito beamed, not bothering to hide his excitement.

_Looks like this will be a great trip!_

* * *

Tomohito’s group mates were all sat in their seats, practically vibrating with excitement, when the train pulled away from the station.

“Isn’t this _exciting?_ ” Kayano squealed. Nagisa and Kanzaki laughed together after their friend’s outburst, and even Karma cracked a non-malicious smile for once.

“Wait -” Tomohito said, looking around the cabin. “The train’s departed, but...come to think of it, where’s Koro-sensei?”

Abruptly, an enormous _yellow_ face smacked into the window to Tomohito’s left, causing him to flinch back in alarm. He seemed to be speaking, but it was impossible to make out what he was saying through the window. Eventually, Nagisa just called Koro-sensei from his cell, setting it to speaker so that everyone could hear.

“W-why are you stuck to the window and not in here, Koro-sensei?” Nagisa asked frantically into the phone, his voice several pitches higher than usual due to his alarm.

“Well,” Class E’s teacher mused, “I was buying some snacks at the station, so I missed the train. I’ll just stay here like this until the next station. And don’t worry, I’m camouflaged, so it only looks like my clothes and luggage are clinging to the train!”

“That’s not normal in the slightest!” Nagisa snapped back as the class laughed around him.

* * *

Eventually, they reached the next station, and Koro-sensei boarded, disguise firmly in place.

As everyone crowded around him, chatting, Tomohito’s group played Crazy Eights in the back of the train. Well, most of them did. Karma had his earbuds in and was leaned up against the window, just observing the rest of them.

Kayano put down a five of clubs, smiling and saying, “It’s pretty interesting. While we’re traveling outside of school, we get the chance to see new sides of everyone.”

Unbidden, Tomohito’s gaze slid over to Kanzaki, watching her as she smiled demurely and looked down at her cards. He flushed slightly, hoping that he would get to talk to her alone at some point during the trip.

Her lips parted, and Tomohito’s blush deepened as he whipped around, facing Karma, who gave him a lofty, knowing look. “Hey,” Kanzaki said softly. “I’m going for a drink run. What would everyone like?”

Kayano and Okuda both raised their hands, saying they’d come along, and just like that, the three boys were alone.

“So,” Karma said, still staring at Tomohito with that _look_. “You’re gonna try to get a piece of Kanzaki-san while we’re on this trip?” He hummed in consideration. “Nice. I don’t think you’re quite her type, though.”

Tomohito’s face flushed a deep pink at Karma’s blunt words, and indignation reared its ugly head, but Nagisa admonished Karma before Tomohito could figure out how to retaliate. “Jeez, Karma; don’t be so rude.”

Karma rolled his eyes and turned his gaze on Nagisa. “Oh, of course _you_ would jump to his defense, Nagisa.”

 _Huh?_ Tomohito thought. _What does that mean?_

“Do you have a crush on one of the girls, too, Nagisa?” Tomohito asked, somewhat curious but mostly desperate to turn the conversation away from himself.

Nagisa’s face grew so hot that Tomohito was afraid he would pass out from his embarrassment. “N-no, I...I mean...I don’t really want to...to talk about it,” he stammered, looking anywhere but at Tomohito and Karma.

Karma laughed raucously, nearly dislodging his earbuds, and Tomohito, if anything, just grew more confused. He looked between his two friends, wondering if he was missing something.

_Nagisa would tell me if he had a girlfriend...right?_

Tomohito brushed off the discomfort and tuned back into the conversation. Now, Nagisa was ribbing Karma, somewhat of a rare sight.

“I can’t imagine you having a girlfriend either, Karma. I’m pretty sure every girl in our class, except maybe Nakamura-san, Hazama-san and Kataoka-san, thinks you’re terrifying,” Nagisa said, but his tone was good-natured.

Tomohito and Karma laughed along, and the girls returned a few moments later with drinks.

* * *

That night, everyone was pretty tired upon arrival at the second-rate inn that the E-Class was forced to stay in, so things were uneventful before the class went to sleep. Tomohito helped Kanzaki search the lobby of the inn for her notebook, where she’d kept the itinerary for the trip, but they had no luck in finding it.

“Thanks anyways,” Kanzaki said with a prim little bow. “Good night!”

She headed towards the girls’ rooms, and Tomohito sighed, trying and failing miserably not to watch the way her skirt fell around her pale upper thighs as she walked.

Eventually, though, she turned a corner, so Tomohito headed towards the boys’ rooms, ready for his required eight hours of shut-eye. As he approached the washroom, he heard hushed voices.

“Come on, I’m tired,” Nagisa’s familiar voice said, yawning even as he spoke.

A lower voice responded, but it was muffled - Tomohito couldn’t make out the words.

“Tomorrow night, I promise,” Nagisa replied, sounding like he was in danger of passing out where he stood.

Then, Tomohito was at the doorway to the washroom. Nagisa stood at one of the sinks, clad in his sleeping clothes - shorts and a light t-shirt, as he washed his hands. His long hair was loose, hanging around his face and shoulders, and it gave Tomohito a bit of a shock to see it down, as it always did. Karma, who was wearing dark flannel pants and nothing else, was standing behind Nagisa, gathering his thick blue hair into a large, loose clump at the top of his head, where he wrapped a hair-tie around it to keep it in place.

Nagisa began to dry his hands, apparently used to moving around while someone else tied up his hair for him. “Oh, hi, Sugino!” Nagisa greeted, at about seventy percent of his usual cheerfulness. It was obvious he was tired.

Tomohito gave Nagisa a half-hearted wave in return, warily keeping his eyes on Karma as he moved to another sink to brush his teeth. But Karma barely gave him a second glance. After a cool nod at Tomohito, Karma gave the messy blue bun one last pat and grabbed one of Nagisa’s hands, eliciting a noise of surprise and indignation from him as he was unceremoniously tugged out of the room. “Uh, good night, Sugino!” Nagisa said belatedly, his voice already fading down the hall.

Tomohito was too exhausted to give the awkward encounter another thought, so he just stared his own reflection down in the mirror and methodically removed his toothbrush from his bag.

 _Tomorrow will be a great day,_ he thought, a tired smile making its way onto his face.

* * *

“Wow,” Kayano said in awe, “This deep in the Gion district, there’s really no signs of life.”

Kanzaki nodded on Tomohito’s left, smiling slightly. “Yup! Since the shops around here mostly turn away first-time customers, there aren’t a whole lot of people just wandering around. That way, we don’t have to work around anyone. _That’s_ why this area was on my ideal route. It’s perfect for assassination.”

Tomohito flushed slightly as he stared at her. _Devastatingly gorgeous_ and _clever? Karma’s totally right; there’s no way she’d look twice at me_ , Tomohito thought with no small amount of disappointment. Then he wondered, _How did a smart girl like her get stuck in the End Class?_

Everybody was impressed by the clear depth and thoroughness Kanzaki had put into her research and planning, and Kayano praised her with the usual energy and sincerity that she put into everything she did. Kanzaki pinked slightly at the compliment, but before she could answer, three huge guys, clad all in non-descript black high school uniforms, came striding out from the other end of the alley.

“Too easy,” one of them said, licking his lips as he approached in lumbering steps. “Now, why would you kids walk into an area like this, perfect for a kidnapping?”

Kayano gasped loudly, and Okuda began to shake violently, breath shortening in alarm when the group realised that they were actually surrounded.

The head of the group that approached from behind them seemed to be carrying a sort of weapon, a dark sock with some kind of heavy object inside. Tomohito swallowed thickly and stepped back, bumping into Kanzaki.

“What’s up, gents?” Karma said in a low, dangerous tone. “Doesn’t seem like you’re here for sightseeing.”

The first one who had spoken, with the shaved head, snorted. “Well, we ain’t here for _you_ , neither, hotshot. All you boys need to do is leave the women here, and get - “

Tomohito never got to hear the rest of what the boys needed to do, because Karma interrupted the thug in the middle of his sentence by grabbing his shorn head and slamming it into a nearby metal street pole with a sickening crunch. Everyone else in the group flinched violently, but as his victim slid slowly to the ground, dazed and bleeding, Karma just turned calmly to face them, an odd expression on his face, like he was trying and failing to hold back a smile. “See, Nagisa?” he chirped, casually holding out his hand to his friend as though teaching him a valuable lesson. “Fighting’s no problem if there aren’t any witnesses.”

Nagisa’s expression, for a moment, seemed to take on that quality it often did that meant someone - usually Karma - was about to be lovingly scolded, but then, in possibly the most heart-wrenching moment Tomohito had ever experienced in real life, Nagisa reached out towards Karma, his soft face twisting into something painful, horror-filled, something terrified, that Tomohito hoped he would never have to see on his best friend’s face again. He knew, then, that that particular moment would be burnt into his mind for years to come.

Then, time returned to its normal speed, and the guy who had been holding the sock swung it full force into the back of Karma’s head. Karma crumpled to the ground, the blow too abrupt and shocking for him to even make a sound, and Nagisa cried out, “ _Karma!_ ” in _definitely_ the most heart-wrenching voice Tomohito had ever heard.

“ _Hey!_ ” Tomohito called, abandoning his fear and stepping forward. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

But his bravery was worthless. One of the high schoolers approached him, the look in his eyes making it abundantly clear that Tomohito was lower than a cockroach under his shoe, and kneed him viciously in his lower abdomen, knocking the wind out of him and likely leaving a horrible bruise.

The last thing Tomohito saw before he closed his eyes to the onslaught of fists and kicks thrown at his limp body was Kanzaki’s terrified, white face, mouth tightly covered by an enormous, rough hand, as she was dragged from the alley, struggling like a wet fish.

* * *

“Nagisa-kun! Sugino-kun!”

Tomohito slowly blinked his eyes open, hand automatically going to his stomach when he felt the ache there. His head thunked back against the brick wall behind him as he groaned in pain.

“Oh,” Nagisa said from somewhere nearby, sounding choked and a little bit drunk. “I’m glad to see you’re okay, Okuda-san.”

Tomohito moved away from the wall slowly, wincing at the various aches in his arms and legs, but surprised and relieved to see that Okuda was safe, even though she looked understandably shaken.

Okuda visibly deflated in response to Nagisa’s relief, her cheeks coloring in embarrassment. “I’m so sorry, everyone...I ran and hid right at the start.”

“No,” Karma sighed, and Tomohito whipped his head around, surprised to see Karma sitting upright _and_ speaking coherently after that blow. The guy was a _beast._ “You did the right thing.”

Karma’s long-ish red hair hung in his face, obscuring his expression, but the gentle way he prodded at the base of his skull gave away the pain he was probably feeling. Nagisa made a little choked-off sound and leaned towards Karma as if to help, but Karma continued talking without acknowledging Nagisa’s concern. “The license plate number was covered. The car was a common model you could find anywhere. It was probably stolen, too. Those bastards were no strangers to crime. Even if we reported them, it would probably take some time to go through.”

Then Karma leaned back, fringe falling from his face to reveal an expression of deep contempt and vindictive fury. “All I ask is that I handle their execution _myself._ ”

Tomohito nodded slowly, on board with a Karma Plan™ for the first time he could remember since he had met the guy. _But_ … “How will we find them?”

“Well,” Nagisa hedged, darting a nervous look at Karma, who was slowly moving to his feet. It was then that Tomohito noticed the enormous book Nagisa somehow had propped up in his lap. “Koro-sensei’s guidebook actually has instructions for what to do when a classmate is abducted.”

Tomohito raised a skeptical eyebrow, leaning closer - and grimacing slightly at the strain on his new bruises - in order to read over Nagisa’s shoulder. “Huh. A normal guidebook would never go this far.”

Nagisa laughed a bit, shoulders still tense but his voice becoming less pained. “Koro-sensei _is_ very thorough. There’s anything and everything in here. Like ‘How to recover from the shock of seeing that the souvenirs you bought in Kyoto are sold at a Tokyo department store’.”

Okuda giggled quietly at the ridiculous hypothetical, and Tomohito rolled his eyes. “That’s a bit far, don’t you think?”

“He also has ‘How to comfort yourself when seeing all the couples around you at the Kamo River makes you feel lonely’.”

Tomohito flushed yet again. “And how is _that_ any of his business?”

Nagisa flipped back to the pages which held instructions for what to do next now that their classmates had just been kidnapped. “Anyway, I’m thankful for Koro-sensei’s forethought. Seeing this has calmed us down, at least,” he said, smiling a little.

And Nagisa was right. Tomohito’s boiling-over panic was now nothing more than a simmer in the back of his mind.

Karma leaned down next to Nagisa, placing a casual hand on his shoulder and squeezing slightly. Nagisa smiled softly up at his friend and visibly relaxed into his touch, exhaling. Then Nagisa turned back to the book, proclaiming, “Everything we need to do is clearly spelled out right here.”

Okuda piped up, “It says that if it looked like they were traveling school students, then to turn to page 1244.”

Karma hummed slightly in agreement. “Well, it didn’t sound like they were speaking with the Kyoto dialect, and they had pretty standard high school uniforms, so go for it.”

Nagisa flipped one page forward and began reading. “‘As your opponent is likely a group of students on a school trip, they must be a group that causes trouble while traveling. That sort of group, in unfamiliar territory, will not flee far from the site of the kidnapping. They will surely look for a secluded place nearby. In this case, turn to Appendix 134. The map that I created before this trip will be a useful countermeasure against kidnappers in hiding.’”

“Oh, yeah!” Tomohito exclaimed. “He did say that he was going to outline a map in advance with all of the possible criminal hideouts around the city from a bird’s eye view. I didn’t think it was important at the time, but…”

Karma stood, not removing his hand from Nagisa’s shoulder, and everyone stood with him, Tomohito and Nagisa both groaning in pain. “Well, let’s not waste any time. Nagisa, how many of those hideouts are in the Gion district?”

Nagisa paused to scan the map, and then responded with a bright, “Just three! The nearest one is…”

+++

About half an hour later, the slightly-battered group of teenagers was slowly making its way through the unknown land of Kyoto, Okuda having taken the map and directing them through the streets, which were deserted save for the occasional tourist. Currently, they were paused in front of a teahouse so that Okuda could cross off the second of the three possible locations and outline a route to the final one. So far, they’d had no luck.

Tomohito looked up from his phone - he’d been emailing Karasuma to let him know about the kidnapping - to ask Nagisa a question, but the words died on his lips, the question forever lost in the wake of Tomohito’s surprise.

Karma was leaning on a railing attached to the sidewalk, smirking slightly. His head was ducked down slightly to look at Nagisa, whose eyebrows were knitted together in worry as he spoke in a rapid, hushed tone, most likely giving Karma the chastising that he hadn’t been able to in the midst of the scuffle earlier. Nagisa was standing a _bit_ closer to Karma than was typical for two male friends, but that wasn’t the surprising part. The part that caused Tomohito to freeze was the way that Karma’s right hand was resting on Nagisa’s set jaw, his thumb moving back and forth in comforting strokes across his pouting lower lip and his slightly bruised cheek.

Then, Karma muttered something to Nagisa, his slightly fond facial expression becoming more mischievous. Whatever he said caused Nagisa to reluctantly crack an embarrassed smile, and he turned his mouth left, into Karma’s palm, before looking up at Karma from beneath partially lowered lids.

Karma’s hand tightened slightly on his friend’s face before slipping down to the nape of his neck, massaging lightly. Nagisa leaned forward, resting his right palm on Karma’s chest and looking up at him earnestly. Karma's mouth curved into a more genuine smile, and he chuckled lightly as Nagisa fixed the collar of his white uniform shirt and swept a bit of dirt or something off his black sweater.

And _of-fucking-course_ , Karma, who was unfortunately the sneakiest bastard Tomohito had ever met, briefly ran his fingers through the short hairs at the base of Nagisa’s skull before turning away and instantly catching sight of Tomohito’s blatant staring. He even went so far as to give him a supercilious wink as he rejoined Tomohito and Okuda at the intersection, Nagisa trailing behind him looking vaguely love-struck.

_What_

_the literal_

_fuck._

The group began moving towards the next and final destination, which was only about a five-minute walk, but Tomohito still felt as though he were frozen in place, shocked by what he had just seen.

 _So are Nagisa and Karma...dating?_ Tomohito asked himself incredulously. The idea was both obvious and impossible at the same time. Nagisa and Karma had known each other at least twice as long as anyone else in this class; they’d been _friends_ , he’d thought, for so long. They were so close; Nagisa looked up to Karma as an unattainable role model - Tomohito knew Nagisa’s feelings about Karma _by rote_. Tomohito was Nagisa’s _best friend_. Nagisa had long bemoaned the fact that he would never be as cool, as smart, as talented as Karma to him, to Tomohito, but he had _certainly_ never said anything about liking him romantically - let alone anything about Karma liking him _back_.

Tomohito hadn’t even known that his best friend was _gay._ Or bisexual, or homoromantic, or whatever he evidently was. Tomohito could, and _would_ , be accepting of this change. He was just...surprised that Nagisa hadn’t told him about it, the way he talked to Tomohito about everything else in his life - his grades, his parents, his insecurities.

And to be honest...a bit hurt.

Of course, Tomohito was the only one who had seen this little exchange, and Karma was the only one who knew that he had seen it. So, somehow, he was going to have to find a way to figure out what the _hell_ was going on between his best friend and the class troublemaker all on his own.

 _I definitely can’t ask Nagisa._ Tomohito tried to imagine it, and he could only see Nagisa blushing and stammering until Tomohito felt embarrassed enough for the both of them and backed off. If Nagisa hadn't told him by now, then he doubted that he could find out just by asking him at this point. And Tomohito just _knew_ that if he asked Karma, he would either be unwittingly talked out of it, or Karma would outright lie about it.

Abruptly, Tomohito was stopped, both mentally and physically, in his tracks. He blinked, removing himself from his tangled-up thoughts, and looked left to see Karma reaching across his chest. “Look,” Karma said, gesturing with his left hand.

Tomohito turned towards their intended address, surprised to see a few older guys with what looked to be camera equipment unlocking a garage on the side of the building. Tomohito recoiled, then felt that nauseating cocktail of wrath and panic frothing back to life in the back of his mind. A smaller, lighter touch nudged his arm, and Tomohito turned to his right to see Nagisa smiling nervously up at him. Tomohito held up his hand, giving his best friend a thumbs-up.

Karma made a series of quick hand gestures, and just like that, the group was swarming around the unsuspecting pair like avenging bees. Together, they wrestled the older teens to the ground and divested them of their equipment. Okuda weakly hurled the large camera at the corrugated steel, but even that much of a throw was enough to break several pieces off of it. Tomohito didn’t know much about photography, but he didn’t think that that camera would be taking any pictures of anything anytime soon.

And judging by the violently purple tint the guys’ swollen fingers had taken on by the time Karma was finished with them, _they_ wouldn’t be taking any pictures of anything anytime soon either.

* * *

Afterwards, Tomohito walked next to Kanzaki, pleasantly surprised to see that she was smiling placidly even after an ordeal as traumatizing as being assaulted and kidnapped. Unfortunately, she spent the whole time on the way back to the inn chatting with Kayano, so Tomohito didn't really get to talk to her.

In the lobby of the inn, the girls promised to meet them in the game room in a few minutes, thanking them for their trouble. After a short walk back to their side, the boys began changing into their yukatas in the large bathroom that Tomohito had barely been awake enough to look at the previous night.

“So...I heard you guys got into some trouble in Gion today. What happened? Is everyone alright?” Isogai asked, approaching Tomohito where he was tying his obi in the corner with Nagisa.

Tomohito smiled to reassure their kind-hearted class representative. “Yeah, it's all good. We ran into some high schoolers, but everyone came out fine and mostly unharmed.”

Nagisa nodded in agreement, beaming. “Koro-sensei’s guidebook turned out to be _really_ helpful. And of course, it helped when Koro-sensei _himself_ showed up.”

Tomohito and Isogai laughed good-naturedly along with Nagisa, and suddenly, Karma appeared behind Nagisa, leaning down to whisper something quickly in his ear before leaving the room.

Nagisa flushed red and stammered a “see you guys in the game room!” before rushing out of the bathroom after Karma.

Abruptly alone with Isogai, Tomohito didn't hesitate to take advantage of the situation. “Isogai-kun,” he whispered, beckoning him closer. “I’m going to ask a very delicate question. I know you're a sensitive guy, so I feel like you might know something.”

Isogai nodded briskly, the last traces of amusement falling from his face as his brow furrowed in confusion. “Of course, Sugino-kun. So something _is_ wrong?”

Tomohito pulled a face. “No, not _wrong._ I just want to know...have you noticed anything,” he lowered his voice even further just in case, “about Karma and Nagisa’s _relationship?”_

Isogai looked caught partway through understanding, discomfort, and hesitance. “Well, maybe, but isn't this a conversation you should be having with Nagisa-kun?”

“Well, that’s just it!” Tomohito hissed, fists clenching in anger and the stinging pain of feeling demoted. He'd done his best to push it down while Kanzaki and Kayano’s lives had been in danger, but now that the rush of the hunt was gone, he couldn't help but focus on his hurt. “He _hasn't_ said anything to me! But he tells me _everything!_ ”

There was a long, tense pause after that, during which Tomohito noticed that everyone else had left the bathroom and he could hear noise in the common room down the hall.

“Well,” Isogai shrugged. “Then maybe we’re both wrong, and nothing is going on at all.”

Tomohito sighed, rubbing his forehead in mild annoyance, and Isogai patted him on the back with a soft, pacifying smile. “Don't worry too much about it. When the time is right for you to find out, Nagisa will come to you seeking support. And you need to be there for him, happy for him. Not upset at being kept out of the loop.”

Tomohito smiled weakly and nodded. _What a great guy._

The two of them walked together to the common room, and Tomohito automatically gravitated towards the gaming machine in the corner, where Kayano, Okuda and Nagisa were crowding around Kanzaki to watch as she played.

To Tomohito's shock, Kanzaki was _dominating_ the danmaku, staying cool and collected even in the face of a barrage. “ _Whoa!_ ” Tomohito exclaimed, drawing the attention of a few other students. “How on earth are you dodging all of them?”

Kanzaki giggled a bit. “Stop embarrassing me,” she said, but her hands were still moving _insanely_ fast over the controls.

“You're moving like a pro, all while gracefully smiling!” Tomohito choked out.

Karma, who was sitting on a couch nearby, said smugly in a low tone, “You're drooling, Sugino-kun.”

Tomohito snapped his mouth shut in irritation and embarrassment and decided _not_ to give Karma the satisfaction of turning around.

Okuda stammered, “W-wow, Kanzaki-san. I never would have expected that you’d be so good at a game like this!”

Kanzaki’s smile grew a bit sad, then. “Yes, I did keep it hidden,” she sighed, fingers _still_ blurring over the controls. “Even though I can play, that sort of thing is frowned upon in an elite school like ours. But,” she continued, her voice lightening, “Maybe I’ve been worrying too much about what other people think. Clothes, hobbies, status...I’d been just going along with the crowd for so long that I’d lost all confidence in myself.” Then she smiled at Kayano, who grinned back at her.

“Koro-sensei made me realise that what’s important is looking forward and trying hard,” Kanzaki finished. Kayano laughed and Okuda smiled along.

Tomohito glanced around at the three girls, noting that they seemed a lot closer than they had before the trip. As he looked on, smiling, Kanzaki looked over and smiled back, causing Tomohito’s heart to nearly beat out of his chest.

* * *

“So,” Tomohito sighed, admittedly not surprised. “Kanzaki-san’s in first place after all.”

Kimura laughed, rolling his eyes. “Well, there’s no one who would really _dis_ like her.”

The guys in Class 3-E had gotten together and ranked the girls in order of likeability, giving points based on their personalities, faces, and... _other_ assets. Even though Tomohito knew that his chances of getting to Kanzaki were slim, they grew even slimmer at the realization that at _least_ three other guys in the class were also interested in her.

“So?” Maehara smirked, bringing Tomohito out of his slump. “How’d it go, Sugino? Since you managed to get her in your group and all.”

Tomohito sighed, eyes falling to the ground. “Well, with all the crap that went down, there was hardly any time to talk with her,” Tomohito lamented - and it was disappointing; he’d asked her _way_ in advance just to be sure that she didn’t commit to any other group first, but somehow he felt _more_ friendzoned than he’d felt before the trip.

“Ah,” Maehara nodded sagely, wise in his infinite knowledge of girls. His eyes seemed to suggest that he knew something that Tomohito didn’t. “Sounds like you had it rough.”

Mimura scoffed and picked up the paper, green-ish eyes scanning it. Tomohito really could never tell what that guy was thinking. “I just want to know who likes who,” he said plainly.

“I can’t pick just one!” Okajima wailed from the corner of the room. “There’s too many pretty girls in our cla - “

“Yeah, well, I don’t really want to know about _you_ , Okajima,” Mimura corrected himself.

“Who do you like, Nagisa?” Maehara suddenly asked, face open and curious.

Everyone, including Tomohito turned to look at Nagisa, who flushed and stammered uncomfortably. “Huh? Me? I-I...uh - ”

However much Tomohito would love to find out what Nagisa really felt, he couldn’t leave his best friend to deal with _this_ level of scrutiny. So he interjected, “What about _you_ , Maehara? Anyone you like?”

“Who, me? Oh, my lips are sealed.” Maehara smiled coyly, throwing up a peace sign.

Mimura leaned in, suddenly incensed. “That - that really pisses me off! And when I think about how popular guys like _you_ are, it pisses me off even _more!”_

Maehara simply smirked, and Mimura’s face tightened like he was about to do something drastic. Before Mimura could respond, though, the door to the boys’ common room was shoved open. Karma strode in, sipping from a can of juice. His eyebrows shot up when he saw all of the guys in the class huddled around a sheet of paper. He didn’t hesitate to snatch it up off the ground so that he could see it better. “ _Ooh_ ,” Karma said, smirking as his eyes traveled down the list. “Looks like you guys are doing something fun.”

Isogai laughed outright. “Nice timing, Karma.”

Mimura sat back, making a face, but said nothing.

“So,” Kimura said, leaning forward like an excited puppy. “Interested in any of the girls in our class?”

Maehara nodded, supporting Kimura. “Yeah, everyone else is saying theirs, so it wouldn’t be fair for _you_ to get out of it.”

Tomohito narrowed his eyes, curious to see if Karma would dodge the question.

Karma hummed to himself, setting his drink and the paper down and crossing his arms in contemplation. “Okuda-san, I guess.”

Maehara’s eyebrows arched in interest and most of the boys in the room made sounds of surprise. “That’s unexpected. Why?”

Karma grinned, and Tomohito shuddered at the dark intent there. “She’d probably be able to cook up some interesting chemicals - you know, chloroforms and other stuff like that. It would really broaden the range of my pranks.”

Maehara laughed nervously. “ _Right,_ " he drawled. "So we _definitely_ don’t want you two to hook up.”

Tomohito let his eyes slide casually over to Nagisa as everyone began laughing, hoping to see an expression on his face that he could work with. To his surprise, Nagisa was smiling broadly and laughing right along with the group. Karma even sat down on Nagisa’s other side with an arm around his friend’s shoulders, tilting his strawberry drink at Tomohito before downing the last of it with a mocking smile lingering around his lips.

After that, Tomohito was just more confused than he'd been before.

“Guys,” Isogai said, standing up and catching everyone’s attention. “We want to keep this a secret, okay? I mean, most of us don’t want this getting out.” The room nodded and a few made sounds of acquiescence. “So do _not_ let the girls _or_ any of the teachers find out about -”

Just then, everyone noticed a pink-faced Koro-sensei leaning through the sliding door that Karma had left open, taking copious notes in a little notepad labeled “Student Data: Boys (3)”.

“Evening, all,” their teacher greeted casually. Then he turned dismissively back to his notes. “Mm, I see.”

A moment later, he was no longer there.

“He took notes and split!” Mimura squawked, scrambling to his feet. “Get him!”

Laughing and slipping on the polished wood, Sugaya, Maehara and Tomohito jumped up after him, leading the charge.

* * *

Late that night, Tomohito blinked awake and squinted into the dark, wondering what had woken him. When he felt an uncomfortable tightness in his lower abdomen, Tomohito realised exactly why he was awake and began to quietly wiggle out of his futon, hoping he didn’t wake any of the other guys. Thankfully, no one stirred when he slid the door open.

He padded down the hall, smacking his lips at the bad taste in his mouth and rubbing absently at the painful bruise on his stomach. In the bathroom, he stood in front of the first urinal he saw and did his business sluggishly, yawning. He was tucking himself away when he heard familiar voices down the hall and quickly coming closer.

“You’re sure everyone was asleep?” Nagisa whispered.

Karma replied easily, “Yup. Now stop worrying.”

Snatching the opportunity by its throat while it was available, Tomohito hastily scrambled into the one stall in the bathroom, suddenly wide awake.

_This way, I can know for sure if they're together without having to directly ask!_

Sitting on the Western-style toilet and pulling his legs up so that they couldn't be seen from under the stall door, Tomohito quieted his breath using a technique Karasuma had taught the class during PE and waited.

The door slid open with a quiet shushing sound, and when the sound repeated, Tomohito was alerted to the fact that Karma and Nagisa had shut the door behind themselves - he wouldn't be able to leave until they did.

“You’re sure that you're okay?” Nagisa murmured after a moment’s pause. “That guy hit you pretty hard. I was…” he paused to take a shuddering breath. “Worried that you wouldn't wake up.”

Karma laughed under his breath and shifted, prompting Tomohito to lean left so he could see more clearly through the crack between the stalls.

His heart stuttered in his chest at what he saw.

Nagisa was dressed similarly to the way he had dressed the previous night, with his hair again tied up in a messy bun. Karma, who was wearing his yukata this time, had Nagisa pressed against one of the sinks. Karma's thumb was tilting Nagisa's chin up so that he could place kiss after slow, tender kiss on Nagisa's closed lips.

“I’m fine, Nagisa,” Karma said quietly after about a minute of just this, only pulling back enough to speak. “I’m not leaving you.”

That was about the moment that Tomohito should have revealed himself and left, accepting the consequences.

The moment came and went, unrecognized for what it was - the point of no return.

In response, Nagisa wrapped both of his thin arms around Karma's neck, tugging him down and stretching up for a heated open-mouthed kiss in which he sucked Karma’s lower lip between his teeth and tugged. In no time, the bathroom was filled with the wet sounds of kissing, and Tomohito flushed, covering his mouth in surprise as he watched Karma thoroughly dominate his best friend’s mouth.

It only got worse.

Nagisa's hands began creeping up into Karma's hair, tangling his fingers in the bright red strands, and Karma's hands landed squarely on Nagisa’s waist, fingers slipping underneath his thin white shirt. Then, Nagisa impatiently rocked his hips up towards Karma, clearly growing aroused - the little blue sleep shorts he was wearing did little to hide the fact.

Karma didn't hesitate to meet Nagisa's demands, grabbing his butt with both hands and heaving him up to sit on the edge of the nearest sink. Nagisa immediately wrapped his legs around Karma's waist, and Karma leaned down, licking and sucking his way down his boyfriend's neck. He paused to whisper something that Tomohito didn’t catch into Nagisa’s ear, but whatever it was was probably so dirty that he wouldn’t want to hear it anyways.

Nagisa moaned on a shaky exhale, and Tomohito felt a wave of guilt at the fact that he was watching this clearly intimate interaction without permission.

 _I knew I shouldn’t have let Karma into our group_ , Tomohito thought to himself, peering through the crack between the door of his stall and the wall and berating himself, Karma, hell, even _his bladder_ for getting him stuck in this situation.

“Strip for me, Nagisa,” Karma muttered into Nagisa’s collarbone before moving away to give Nagisa the space to do so.

Nagisa nodded, bun bobbing with the movement, and reached down to remove his shirt. As soon as the garment was out of the way, Karma leaned in to suck and nip at Nagisa's slim chest, paying close attention to his nipples, which were pale pink and erect in the cool air of the bathroom. Nagisa pushed into Karma’s touch, back arching as he sighed in pleasure.

When Karma reached Nagisa's waistband, falling to his knees, he cupped Nagisa's obvious erection in one hand and squeezed it lightly, smirking. “It seems someone’s a little excited, eh, Nagisa-chan?”

Nagisa groaned, his dick twitching erratically against Karma's hand through the cotton. “Stop...t-teasing me,” he gritted out eventually.

Karma outright laughed and tugged Nagisa's shorts and briefs down in one go, exposing Nagisa's erect dick to anyone who happened to be watching - namely, his _very_ regretful best friend.

Of _course_ Tomohito had seen Nagisa's privates before. They were best friends, and Tomohito had slept over at his house a couple of times on top of all the times they had showered three feet apart after gym class this year. But that didn't mean he was comfortable with seeing _it_ when he was _turned on_!

Tomohito tried to avert his eyes, but it was like what everyone says about really horrible car crashes - he couldn't bring himself to look away.

Karma didn't hesitate, quickly ducking down and taking most of Nagisa's length into his mouth in one go while using one of his hands to massage his tight, bare balls. Nagisa keened, his eyes squeezing shut in pleasure. Tomohito knew that Nagisa’s dick was pretty small, even for a still-growing fourteen-year-old, and Karma took advantage of this fact, repeatedly bobbing his head down to the root every time with what looked like no effort.

One of Nagisa's hands found its way back into Karma's hair, tugging lightly without forcing. But Karma pulled off, mouthing at the head and giving the slit teasing little licks that caused Nagisa to spasm. He leaned down a bit, nosing at the skin of Nagisa’s inner thighs before sucking both of Nagisa’s tight little balls into his mouth. Nagisa yelped when Karma moved again, nipping at his scrotum. Then, Karma backed off and suckled at the head of Nagisa’s cock, groaning low in his throat, and Nagisa’s abdomen twitched inward, as if he were restraining himself.

Karma seemed to notice, as he moved away again. Licking his lips, Karma spoke, his voice low and wrecked, “ _Fuck me,_ Nagisa.”

Nagisa’s hips stuttered forward in an aborted response, his dick twitching in the cool air, and he moaned out, “ _Ah_ , Karma,” when Karma swallowed him again, throat shifting as he did so. Then, Karma squeezed Nagisa's ass with his free hand, urging him forward, and Nagisa's grip tightened in Karma’s hair as he began to fuck roughly into Karma's pliant mouth, little almost-pained grunts escaping his mouth as he did so. Filthy, wet smacking and slurping sounds echoed off of the walls of the bathroom, and Tomohito wanted to flush himself down the toilet in shame.

Suddenly, Nagisa tensed and pulled roughly on Karma’s hair, saying. “No, n-not yet, too fast.” Karma slid off slowly, grazing his teeth over the head as he pulled back, and Nagisa shuddered violently.

Karma stood to his full height and cradled Nagisa’s cock in his right hand, gently tapping the slit with the pad of his thumb. “You’re close?” Nagisa nodded violently, face tomato-red and moaning softly into the back of his own hand as Karma’s slight movements quickly grew wet with pre-cum. His legs trembled, and Tomohito could tell that the only thing keeping him standing was Karma’s hand on his hip. “Cute,” Karma said, smiling deviously and leaning in to tug on Nagisa’s earlobe with his teeth, causing Nagisa’s hands to clench on the sink.

“What do you want, then?” Karma asked into Nagisa’s ear, relentlessly scraping his thumbnail _just_ over Nagisa’s slit. “And don’t hide from me.”

“A- _ahn_ , Karma, I can’t - “ Nagisa cried, his hand falling away from his face in supplication.

“You _can_.” Karma’s voice remained coaxing, but he stopped his movements, letting his thumb just rest where it was.

“I-I...Will you l-lick me?” Nagisa asked, looking anywhere but at Karma’s face as he spoke.

Tomohito’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion despite himself. ‘ _Lick’ him? Wasn’t he just doing that?_

Karma seemed to understand, though, because his face softened. “Yeah, of course. It’s not like it’s a _chore_.”

Karma manhandled Nagisa so that he was laying diagonally over the sink, exposing his pale ass. Then, after untying the obi, he shrugged out of his yukata and dropped his boxers, exposing _far_ more of Karma than Tomohito had ever wanted to see. He quickly and efficiently folded the garments into a sort of cushion and set them on the ground so he could kneel more comfortably behind Nagisa. Tomohito looked on, a vague sense of dread creeping into the back of his mind.

Karma palmed Nagisa’s cheeks, squeezing roughly, before pulling them apart to expose Nagisa’s tight, pink asshole. Tomohito watched in morbid fascination as Karma blew warm air onto the puckered skin, causing Nagisa to sigh quietly and his hole to twitch.

 _Holy_ shit _,_ Tomohito thought to himself, horrified as his _own_ dick began to show interest. After everything else, _this_ would be what got to him?

“You look almost as cute from down here, Nagisa-chan,” Karma said lowly. Before Nagisa could respond, Karma leaned down and viciously bit down on the likely sensitive skin behind Nagisa’s balls. Nagisa screamed, muffled when he bit down on his own hand, and then moaned lewdly when Karma soothed the wound with some gentle sucking. Karma laughed. “You know, since the first time I had you, I’ve wanted to leave a mark there.”

Nagisa laughed breathlessly and managed to speak clearly, if a bit rushed and strained. “Why? It’s not like anyone would ever see it but you.”

Karma paused, and Tomohito tensed instinctively -  _Does he know I'm here?_

“Well, probably,” Karma said, chuckling a bit. “But just knowing it’s there is enough. Knowing that every time you walk, stand up, sit down or even move, whether you’re talking to Kayano-chan, Sugino-kun, or Koro-sensei, for the next few days, you’ll always feel _me_ . And you’ll think about me. And you’ll try not to get hard so our friends don’t figure out exactly _how_ you think about me.”

He punctuated the statement with another filthy-wet suck at Nagisa’s taint, causing Nagisa to arch so far back that it looked distinctly painful. Nagisa canted his hips back pleadingly, encouraging... _oh, shit._

Obliging, Karma leaned in and lapped at Nagisa’s tiny, _tiny_ hole. Nagisa let out a breathy, high-pitched moan in response, hands tightening against the porcelain of the sink. Karma reached around and grabbed Nagisa’s cock, rubbing and squeezing gently at the head. Nagisa whined into his arm, protesting (“I-I’m too _close_ , Karma!”), so Karma lowered his hand to begin roughly jerking _himself_ off, using Nagisa’s pre-cum as a slightly dubious replacement for lube.

Tomohito pressed his lips and thighs together, guiltily trying to give himself a bit of relief while still keeping himself silent.

Then, Karma sealed his lips over Nagisa’s hole and _sucked_ , which was apparently Nagisa’s cue to start talking.

“ _Oh,_ f-fuck, Karma!” Tomohito’s best friend choked out, and Tomohito nearly fell in the toilet in surprise. He’d never, _ever_ heard a single swear word come out of Nagisa’s mouth, not when he stubbed a toe on his bed once, and not when he was in the middle of a heated rant about his building resentment for his mother just last week. “ _Fuck_ me,” Nagisa hissed, a bit of saliva wetting his bottom lip.

In response, Karma backed off, purring, “My _pleasure_ ,” before pushing his tongue in as far as it could go. He apparently decided that one-hundred percent of his effort should be put into pleasing his lover, because he released his own dick in favor of using both of his hands to hold Nagisa’s twitching, wet hole wide open for his ministrations. For what seemed like hours, the only audible noises were Nagisa’s wrecked moans and the wet squelching of Karma’s tongue and lips - until yet again, Karma retreated. “ _Mmm_ ,” Karma groaned, then spat into Nagisa’s crack. He massaged it in with two fingers, smirking and humming to himself. “Feels good, Nagisa-chan?”

“I-” Nagisa started to say, but Karma didn’t let him finish, slipping one of his fingers in without hesitation. Nagisa nearly shrieked, abruptly spilling a decent-sized load into the sink and clenching repeatedly around Karma’s finger. Not bothering to wait for Nagisa to catch his breath, Karma added a second finger, smiling like the cat who got the canary when Nagisa’s knees buckled, body still twitching from his violent orgasm.

“You’re so hot when you’re coming, Nagisa-chan,” Karma praised. Nagisa didn’t respond, instead opting to rest his face on the sink and breath heavily. Relentless, Karma gripped Nagisa’s still-hard cock and ran his thumbnail underneath the head. “Think you have any left?”

Even as his dick seemed to show interest, Nagisa shook his head vaguely, clearly still dazed. Karma clicked his tongue and slowly slipped his ring finger in alongside the first two while slowly stroking and squeezing Nagisa from the base up, coaxing a little bit more liquid out of the slit. Nagisa trembled, overwhelmed, and Karma just continued, pumping three fingers relentlessly into Nagisa’s clenching asshole.

Karma narrowed his eyes and adjusted his angle, and Nagisa’s mouth suddenly opened on a silent scream as more liquid seeped from his dick and spurted weakly onto his lower abdomen. Karma carried him through it, pushing knuckle-deep into Nagisa and remaining there. “K-Karma, no more…” Nagisa whispered, eyes half-lidded with fatigue.

Karma smiled about as softly as Karma ever smiled and gently removed his fingers, his eyes intent on the way Nagisa’s body tightened around the tips before releasing. Karma leaned in one last time, sealing his lips over Nagisa’s gaping hole and licking into it, moaning deeply at whatever taste he found there. Despite Nagisa’s quiet protests, Karma reached up to play with Nagisa’s empty sac. After a few moments of Nagisa weakly pulling at Karma’s hair, Karma pulled back, standing and licking his lips contentedly. “Sorry, I just wish we could do more,” Karma sighed, helping Nagisa stand upright on his quaking legs. “I would be in your ass 24/7 if it were possible.”

Nagisa’s nose scrunched up, right along with Tomohito’s, and Tomohito had a sudden sense of déjà vu as he watched Karma be gently chided. “Don’t be so crude, Karma.” Nagisa paused to yawn hugely, slumping in Karma’s arms. “Especially not...so late at night.”

Tomohito watched, silent and about six thousand times more uncomfortable than he’d been when Karma had been _swallowing his best friend’s dick_ , as Karma and Nagisa went about redressing each other. Karma helped Nagisa tug his shorts and underwear up, but not without licking the remnants of Nagisa’s orgasm off of his flaccid cock - that added an extra ten minutes to the process. Then, after giving Nagisa’s chest and stomach the same attention, Karma helped him into his shirt. Once Nagisa had helped Karma rety his obi and they were both fully dressed, Karma cupped the back of Nagisa’s head, urging him in for a kiss.

They spent another twenty minutes like that, just tenderly kissing each other. Nagisa stood on his tip-toes for as long as he could bear, gripping Karma’s shoulders for balance, and Karma laid one hand on Nagisa’s waist and the other on his cheek, constantly stroking his bruised cheekbone and pushing stray, sweaty cerulean strands out of his face.

Somehow, more than anything Tomohito had seen tonight, this felt like something that should be private. So Tomohito turned his eyes away, like he should have done two hours ago when all they were doing was necking.

Eventually, Tomohito heard a quiet exchange of _I love you_ s, the shuffling of slippers, and the door slid open and shut. Just to be certain, he peeked through the crack. Seeing that the area was empty, he unlocked the stall and slowly pushed it open. Thankfully, he’d softened, so he didn’t have to walk back to the bedroom with an awkward -

Karma stood just left of his stall door, leaning casually against the wall _exactly_ where Tomohito wouldn’t have seen him, and Tomohito stifled a scream, nearly falling back into the cubicle. Tomohito scrambled into a more upright position, heart pounding furiously, and waited for Karma to say something.

Eventually, he smirked. “Enjoy the show, Sugino-kun?”

Tomohito coughed, mortified at the position he’d been caught in. “I’m really, _really_ sorry for spying; it’s just-”

Karma waved a nonchalant hand. “Don’t worry about it. I know _why_ you did it, and it’s not because you’re attracted to my boyfriend.” Tomohito shook his head violently, and Karma took a moment to give him a once over, lingering at his crotch as if he _knew_ \- he probably did - that Tomohito had gotten a bit hard while watching. “Well, at least it’s not _consciously_ because of that.”

Tomohito flushed, but steered the conversation away from _that_ topic. “Why didn’t you tell Nagisa?”

Karma’s smirk grew _more_ smug, if that were possible. “Oh, I did. But he didn’t mind. He’s had a sort of exhibitionist streak lately - it’s pretty hot.”

Tomohito closed his eyes and resigned himself to the fact that all the brain bleach in the universe wouldn’t be able to remove this conversation - scratch that, this _night_ \- from his memory.

As he re-opened his eyes, he blurted out the next thing that came to mind. “Why didn’t you...you know?” Tomohito fumbled, awkwardly gesturing to Karma’s crotch. “You got Nagisa off twice.”

“Well, the main reason is that I get _way_ more enjoyment out of wrecking Nagisa than I do out of getting myself off,” Karma answered, turning towards the sink and washing his hands. He was careful to rinse the thick white globs off of the sides of the sink as well. “And how can I not? His ass is perfection - I tried to keep it a little on the vanilla side in consideration for the long bus ride home tomorrow, but normally I would have spanked him raw.” Tomohito gaped and vehemently _did not imagine_ that. Karma continued as if what he’d said was nothing out of the ordinary. “Anyway, it’s not all selfless. Sometimes I _like_ denying myself. It’ll be a hell of a lot more satisfying to fuck Nagisa through the mattress once we get home when I haven’t come for a week beforehand.”

Tomohito nodded slowly, still trying to pick his jaw up off the floor. _Is this guy even real?_

“Anyways,” Karma said, clapping Tomohito on the shoulder in some twisted gesture of solidarity. “This little... _event_ makes me quite certain that you have no real problem with Nagisa and I dating. But _I’m_ not your best friend, so...you should really talk to Nagisa tomorrow. He’s been worried about your reaction, which is exactly why he hadn’t told you yet.”

“Yeah,” Tomohito said quietly. Somehow, he had done something that caused Nagisa to doubt their friendship - whatever it was, it needed to be fixed immediately. “I’ll talk to him.”

“Good!” Karma said, smiling brightly as his hand slipped off of Tomohito’s shoulder. “Well, good night, then.”

Unceremoniously, Karma left the bathroom, leaving the stench of sex and a slightly traumatized fourteen-year-old in his wake.

Tomohito ran a hand through his hair and turned to leave, but something caught his eye. As he turned to the right, spotting the urinals, his eyes widened in surprise, and he resisted the violent urge to bash his head into the nearest mirror.

_I didn’t flush the toilet._

_From the very moment that they’d walked into the bathroom, I had already given myself away._

* * *

“Never have I ever...skipped school!” Kayano said, grinning. Everyone turned towards Karma, who rolled his eyes and folded his left thumb down.

They were on the way back to Tokyo, playing a game of Never Have I Ever, and Tomohito was waiting for an opportunity to confront Nagisa - while simultaneously hoping that one never came.

“I’ve n-never...left the country…?” Okuda said unsurely. Surprisingly, both Karma and Kayano put a finger down.

Kanzaki looked interested. “You’ve left the country, Kayano-san?” she asked, leaning forward with an inquisitive smile on her face. “That’s really nice.”

Kayano smiled brightly. “Yeah! I’ve been to America with my parents - it was super cool.”

Karma waved a lazy hand to stop the chatter. “Alright, alright. Never have I ever cheated on a test.” In response to that, everyone dropped a finger except for Kanzaki.

 _I don’t think there’s anyone on Earth quite as perfect as her,_ Tomohito thought ruefully. Tomohito was still pretty upset that he'd hardly gotten to talk to Kanzaki, especially because he'd asked her to be in his group over a month in advance, but he had suggested this game in the hopes that he could find out a bit more about her this way.

Karma clicked his tongue, shaking his head. “And here I thought you were so good, Nagisa.”

Nagisa’s face turned red, and he spluttered, “W-well, if I were a _good_ test-taker, I wouldn’t be in the _End_ Class, now would I?”

For a moment, the group - _no_ , the train car - went dead silent. Nagisa blanched and opened his mouth as if to apologize and correct himself. Then, Nakamura called out, “He’s right, you know,” in a slightly mocking tone, and everyone burst out laughing.

“Um…” Okuda started, once everyone’s conversations restarted. “I think I’m going to get a drink.”

“Ooh! I’ll come along!” Kayano said, at the same time Kanzaki said, “I’ll come with you.”

Tomohito was slammed with a nauseating sense of déjà vu as the girls headed to the door at the back of the car. After they left, their booth sunk into a stiflingly awkward silence which Tomohito was loath to break.

Fortunately, Karma had no such reservations.

“So,” he said, lowering his voice. “I think now that we’re alone, you two should...ah, talk about what happened yesterday, maybe?”

Tomohito and Nagisa both reddened, but Tomohito spoke up. “Let me just start with...I am _so_ sorry I spied on you guys. I didn't mean to watch you...um, do... _that.”_

Nagisa's blush deepened, but he didn't look all that upset. “It’s okay. I mean, mostly. I feel kind of weird that my best friend watched me do... _that,”_ he mumbled.

Tomohito grimaced. “It’s just that once I started to notice that you two were acting sort of couple-y, I was kind of upset that you hadn't told me. So… I wanted to find out for myself if it was true or not.”

Karma gave him a disbelieving look, and Tomohito averted his eyes uncomfortably. “Okay, so now that I say it out loud, it seems kind of stupid,” he admitted.

“It seems _really_ stupid,” Karma corrected brightly.

Nagisa pinched his arm, chastising, and Karma stuck his tongue out unrepentantly. Tomohito shook his head bewilderedly, wondering how he could have mistaken their playful banter for simple friendly jibing.

“So...why _didn’t_ you tell me?” Tomohito asked curiously.

After a few moments, Nagisa tucked some of his hair behind his ear and spoke quietly. “It’s just that...I didn’t want to lose you, too.”

Tomohito’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. _Lose me?_ “What do you mean?”

Karma gave Nagisa an encouraging look when he hesitated, and Nagisa sighed before continuing. “You know how my mom is. She...found out that I have a boyfriend, even though she doesn’t know that it’s Karma. And she flipped out, saying that I wasn’t allowed to, that I needed to focus on school, on getting back to the main building. But I fought her on it, and she...hurt me. A lot. She stopped feeding me, started locking me in my room...” Nagisa was as tense as a bowstring, clearly uncomfortable as he was forced to relive the trauma. “My dad, um...talked to her about it, and even though she won’t do those things anymore, she refuses to talk to me.”

Tomohito was completely floored. He’d known that Hiromi was pretty unbalanced, from what Nagisa had told him in the past, but apparently Nagisa hadn’t been telling him everything.

“Wow…” Tomohito exhaled, surprised. “Thanks for telling me; I can see it makes you upset to talk about. But you _have_ to know that I would never do anything like that to you, right?”

Nagisa smiled genuinely and nodded, saying, “I’m sure _now_. And I’m sorry I doubted you.”

Tomohito rubbed the back of his neck and leaned back. “If it’s all the same to you, I’d like to call it even.”

Karma clapped his hands and grinned. “Well, now that that’s all sorted, how did things go with Kanzaki-san? Did you really not talk to her at all?”

Tomohito sighed and leaned back in the seat. “Yeah. I mean, maybe I should just be honest with her? I wanted to lead up to it, but I feel like I’ll never get to tell her how I feel at this rate.”

Karma rolled his eyes and opened his mouth, most likely to say something scathing, but then, the girls returned, smiling and carrying juice cartons.

“Miss us?” Kayano said cheekily, handing Nagisa a juice. Kanzaki giggled cutely in response, covering her mouth.

Tomohito dropped his head into his hands and released a heartfelt, long-suffering groan, both at the situation and at the pain in his abdomen caused by hunching over. “I just miss _Tokyo_. I’m so done with this trip.”

Karma reached across the table and patted Tomohito’s shoulder, granting him a sympathetic look. “Two more hours, buddy,” Karma said, his face exuding infinite compassion.

Tomohito sighed with all the weight an angsty teenage boy could possibly hold in his lungs and held his hands up. He then noticed Karma and Nagisa exchanging another look, but he didn’t understand what was being conveyed there.

“I have never...kissed a girl before,” Nagisa said stiffly, staring straight at Tomohito.

Kayano raised her eyebrows and spoke. "What about - ?"

Nagisa cut her off, shaking his head violently with a dark blush. "I-I don't count that, Kayano.  _She_ kissed  _me_...and, well. I didn't want it."

Kayano shrugged lightly and smiled easily. "Whatever you say, Nagisa-kun!"

After a pause, Karma and Tomohito both dropped fingers. To Tomohito’s immense surprise, both Kayano and Kanzaki did as well, Kayano giving a bashful grin and Kanzaki’s cheeks pinking prettily.

“Kanzaki-san, you’ve...kissed a _girl_?” Tomohito asked incredulously.

Kanzaki’s eyes drifted over to meet Kayano’s, and she seemed to carefully think over her words before nervously licking her lips and speaking. “Yes, I like girls. And I’ve…” she paused, looking down at her lap. “I’ve kissed a few.”

If Tomohito could have slammed his head into a wall without looking like a complete idiot, he would have. _So, the entire time, I was chasing after a girl who’s_ gay? _Is literally_ everyone _around me gay?_

Karma caught his eye, smirking knowingly, and Tomohito gave up, scowling and leaning back in his seat. Then he groaned in pain when the chair pressed against a particularly bad bruise on his upper back.

_What a horrible trip._

**Author's Note:**

> Additional tags: Rimming, Blow jobs, Biting, Orgasm Delay/Denial, Multiple Orgasms, Anal Fingering, Prostate Massage, Nagisa's mom being a bitch
> 
> I'd love it if you left a kudo or a comment, but hey! At least you read it. :)


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